Window regulating device



NOV. 27, 1956 P. F. ROSSMANN ET AL 2,771,789

WINDOW REGULATING DEVICE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed April 10, 1948 FIG.Z.

INVENTORS. e7e7 f. 27033 7/47771 /QOM.

Nov. 27, 1956 P ROSSMANN ETAL 2,771,789

WINDOW REGULATING DEVICE Original Filed April 10, 1948 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTORS Pefer 2705:3374):

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United States Patent WINDOW REGULATING DEVICE Original application April 10, 1948, Serial No. 20,243, now Patent No. 2,621,926, dated December 16, 1952.

Divided and this application November 5, 1952, Serial No. 318,932

3 Claims. (Cl. 74-625) The present invention relates to devices for the operation of windows, more particularly to improvements in window regulators for automobiles and other vehicles. This application is a division of application Serial No. 20,243 filed April 10, 1948, now Patent No. 2,621,926, issued December 16, 1952.

The known types of automobile window regulators using an electric, pneumatic or hydraulic motor as a driving source, have been found unsatisfactory in practice mainly for the reason that they do not provide for a safe and reliable manual operation, in the event of failure of the automatic system.

As is evident, both damage and discomfort may result if it is impossible to close the window of an automobile to keep out weather or to prevent theft through failure of the automatic window regulator system. Likewise, in the event of accident when the doors or the windows become jammed and the automatic system becomes damaged, escape of the occupants may become impossible.

Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to overcome the aforementioned and other drawbacks and defects inherent in prior window control devices by providing an improved window regulating system designed for either automatic or manual operation in a simple and reliable manner.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a combined manual and automatic window control device for automobiles or the like which is both simple in construction and easy to manufacture; which will require little space and may be easily and readily installed in an automobile door; which will enable a window normally to be controlled automatically in either direction, while at the same time enabling an easy and instant manual operation in cases of emergency or failure of the automatic system; and which will enable in general the manual and automatic control devices to be used discriminately at the discretion of the operator,to suit his personal choice or any existing operating requirements or conditions that may arise.

Further objects and novel aspects of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of a few practical embodiments, reference being had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification and wherein:

Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view through a combined manual and automatic window regulating device constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross-section through the spring clutch embodied in and taken on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 shows in diagrammatic fashion an automobile door equipped with a window regulating system of the type according to the invention;

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional view similar to Figure 1 showing a modified form of a window regulator contructed in accordance with the invention;

Figure 5 is a partial cross-sectional view showing an automatic clutch for the manual operating member and 2,771,789 Patented Nov. 27, 1956 suitable for use in connection with window regulating devices according or similar to those described by the invention;

Figure 6 is a cross-section taken on lines 66 of Figure 5;

Figure 7 is a vertical cross-section through a further modified window regulating device constructed in accordance with the invention; and

Figure 8 is a cross-section taken on the lines 8--8 of Figure 7.

Like reference characters identify like elements in the different views of the drawings.

Referring to Figures 1 and 2, there is shown at 10 a primary or first shaft arranged to be driven by either an electric motor or manually by means of a hand crank or the like and being coupled with a secondary shaft 11 through a uni-bi-directional spring clutch or the equivalent, said secondary shaft driving a gear 12 which meshes with a further gear 13 of any known type of window operating mechanism, such as indicated schematically in Figure 3 and described hereafter.

The spring clutch shown in Figures 1 and 2 comprises a pair of sector-shaped interlocking lugs 14 and 15, Figure 2, the former being attached to or integral with the shaft 10 and the latter being attached or integral with the shaft 11. A coil spring 16 encircling the lugs 14 and has its hooked ends 17 interposed between the adjoining end faces of said lugs, in such a manner that upon rotation of lug 14 or the associated shaft 10 in either direction, the spring will be wound up or contracted by virtue of one end of the lug engaging the inner face of one of the hooked ends 17, thereby releasing the spring from its normal frictional engagement with the surrounding cylindrical housing 18, which latter may form a part of a case or a support for the entire coupling device. As a result, rotational movement may be freely transmitted from shaft 10 to shaft 11 in either direction of rotation. On the other hand, upon rotation of lug 15 or the associated shaft 11 in either direction, the spring 16 will be unwound or expanded by virtue of one of the ends of the lug engaging the outer face of one of the hooks 17, thereby tightening the spring further against the housing 18 and blocking transmission of movement in the direction from shaft 1 to shaft 10. Such a clutch, being bidirectional as to sense of rotation and unidirectional as to the sense of transmission of torque or power, will enable the operation of a window by way of gears 12 and 13 by rotating shaft 10 either manually or automatically, while at the same time preventing the window from reacting in the reverse direction upon the driving motor or manual operating handle due to gravity or other forces.

There is furthermore shown in Figure 1 a friction disk 20 keyed to the shaft 10, said disk being held in frictional engagement with a worm wheel 21 arranged to rotate freely upon said shaft and being driven by a worm gear 22. Frictional engagement between disk 20 and worm wheel 21 is maintained by the provision of a retaining snap ring 23 at the opposite side of worm wheel 21 and a disk-shaped spring or resilient split washer 24 interposed between the outer face of disk 20 and a gear 25 mounted upon the outer end of shaft 11 Gear 25 meshes with a similar gear 26 of smaller number of gear teeth and having a hub 27 which is provided with a slot or rectangular recess adapted to receive a hand crank or equivalent operating member, for manually rotating shaft 10 and regulating the window, as will be further understood from the following.

Item represents the inside panel of an automobile door or the like which is provided with a suitable opening for applying the hand crank or equivalent operating member, said opening being normally closed by a snap-on type spring plug 28v Worm 22 is driven by an electric motor through a rigid or flexible shaft, whereby the windowmay be raised or lowered by starting the motor. in either direction by means of a reversible and preferably, self-centering electric control switch. in case of failure of'the motor or any, other emergency, button 28 is removed and a hand crank or the like, which may be carried in the door or: glove. compartment of an automobile, applied for manual operation of the window.

During the latter operation, it will be necessary for. the operator to overcome the frictional force between the disk 20 and worm wheel 21 and it is for this purpose that the reducing gear or speed transformer 25, 26 is provided in order to minimize the manual effort in overcoming the riction between disk 2i) and. worm. 21. At the same time, the worm wheel 21, being unable to rotate against worm 22 will serve as a lock or abutment for the rotation of diskiltl and shaft 14}, thereby limiting the transmission of the manual torque in the direction of the window control gears 12 and 13 by way of shafts 1t and 11 and the uni-bi-directional spring clutch, ina manner readily understood from the above.

The frictional force between disk 20 and worm wheel 21 is advantageously so, adjusted by a suitable design of the spring washer 24 or an equivalent resilient pressure member, as to act asan overload releasemeans by. allow ing the disk 29 to slip relative to worm wheel 2? when the window reaches the limit position or becomes stuck or otherwise restrained, such as by a person placing his hand against the edge of the window pane in an intermediate position. In this manner, the load upon the motor will be automatically relieved upon reaching a predetermined excess torque and damage to the mechanism as well as injury to persons is substantially avoided.

Figure 3 shows diagrammatically. a window operating mechanism mounted within an automobile door and combined with a regulator system of the type according to the invention. Numeral 3S indicates the door, 36 represents the Window frame and 37 a window pane mounted upon a support or channel-shaped member 38. The latter serves as a guide for a pair of rollers 40 whichare attached to the ends of links 41 each of whichis in turnconnectcd to one of a pair of driving gears 13.arranged in mutual meshing relation, one of said gears corresponding to gear 13 shown in Figurel and in turn meshing withthe driving gear. 12 of thewindow control mechanism. Item 45 is a hand crank. shown in the inserted position for rotating gears 26 and 25, the worm gear 22 being. driven by an electric motor 43 through. a shaft 44. The latter is arranged for rotation in either-direction by energizing it by a suitable power source such as abattery 46 through a reversible preferably self-centering electric control switch 47, in the manner shown in thedrawing and readily understood by those skilled in the art.

Referring to Figure 4, there is shown a modified arrangement similar to Figure 1 and including means for automatically releasing or reducing the frictional force between disk 20 and worm wheel 21 during themanuai window operation. For this purpose, the frictional force is produced by magnetic attraction in addition to or without the spring pressure provided by Washer24 or an equivalent compression spring. In the embodiment illustrated, both the worm wheel 21 and friction disk 20 are. of magnetic material, there being furthermore provided a magnetic winding 54) mounted in an annular recess of wheel 21 and connected to a pair of slip rings 52 and 53 engaged by brushes or sliding contacts 54 and 55 for electrically connecting the winding 50 in series with the circuit energizing the motor 43. The motor shown in this embodiment is of the type comprising separate forward and reverse windings which are connected to a single-Pole self-centering switch 47. It is understood, however, that a normal motor may be employed in connection with a double-pole reversible switch for the purpose of they invention.

In an arrangement of the type aforedescribed, the current flowing through the motor circuit during the automatic control of the window passes through the magnetic winding 50, whereby to produce a suificient frictional force between disk 2% acting as an armature for the worm wheel 21. Upon opening of the motor circuit and deenergization of the winding 53, the frictional force due to magnetic attraction will be released, whereby toenable an easy manual operation of the window by rotatingthe handle or hand crank 45 shown in the inserted position. As will understood, in the latter case the reduction gearing 25, 26 of Figure l may be omitted and shaft 1% driven directly by the hand crank, inthe manncrshown in Figure 4, v

The releasable magnetic clutch shown in Figure 4 may be of any other suitable. construction. adapted to apply frictional pressure between the disk 2i) and worm wi eel 21. Thus, in place of the winding St the spring washer 24 may be in the form of a coil spring compressed by a sleeve shifter or magnetic plunger which in turn is controlled by stationary solenoid winding, in the manner shownand described in further detail in the co-pending application of Peter F. Rossmann, Serial'No. 3,662, filed January 22, 1946, now Patent No. 2,621,543, issued December 16, 1952, entitled Window Regulating Device. By connecting the solenoid in the circuit of the electric motor, suflicient friction between the disk 24) and worm wheel 21 will be provided during the automatic operation and the frictional force released or reduced during the manual operation after opening of the motor circuit, in a manner readily understood from the above.

Shaft 10 in Figure 4 may be connected to the window operating mechanism through a uni-bi-directional spring clutch (not shown), in substantially the same manner as shown in the preceding illustrations.

According to the preceding embodiments of the invention, the hand crank for manual window control. is shown to be reserved for emergency uses when the automatic system becomes inoperative or for use underany. other conditions when manual rather than automatic control is desirable-or necessary.

According to a further feature of the invention, the hand crank or equivalent operating member may be applied or mountedpermanently to prevent its loss or displacement or for any other reasons, or requirements. There, is provided for this purpose, in accordance with the invention, an automatic coupling device. as shown: in Figures 5 and 6 designedinrsuch a manner as to prevent rotation of the hand crank by the motor during the automatic window operation and to establish driving connection with the shaft 10 upon initially rotatingt he crank. in either direction or reelasing it at the end of the manual window'operation. There is shownforthis purpose in Figures 5 and 6 an automatic clutch comprising a first ring-shaped clutch member 60 secured to or integral with shaft 10 and provided with. internal serrations or teeth 61-. The latter are arranged to be engaged byapair of spaced and parallel resilient prongs or pawls 62-and 63 forming part of a slotted disk or intermediate clutch member-64. The slots 65 and 66 of disk 64 are so designed as to provide an adequate resiliency for the pawls or prongs 62 and 63. The hand crank 45 is secured to a shaft 67 forming the cooperating clutch memher, and being suitably journaledin a wall or support 69 and guided by an extension projecting into a central bore of shaft 10. Shaft 67 carries or has secured to it asymmetrical caml68 normally held in a central symmetrical position between the prongs 62. and 63, whereby theouter ends of the prongs are in disengaged relation to the teeth 61 of member 60.

The intermediate clutch member 64 is arranged for frictionalv engagement with; the support69 by the provision of a disk.70rigidly secured thereto by rivetingor the like and arranged to rotate freely-upon the shaft'67. Disk- 70.is in turn in resilient frictional engagement-with the wall or support 69 by the provision of leaf spring elements 71 secured to support 69 and bent upon and over the outer edge of disk 70, in the manner shown in the drawing.

In operation, upon initial rotation of the shaft 67 by the hand crank 45 for manually controlling the window, either of the prongs 62 or 63, depending upon the sense of rotation, will be deflected into engagement with the teeth 61 by the action of the camming surfaces of member 68 and restraining action caused by the friction between disk 70 and support or wall 69, whereby to establish driving connection between the member 68 or shaft 67, on the one hand, and shaft 10, on the other hand, in a manner readily understood. Upon release of a crank 45, cam 68 will return to the normal or central position due to the spring action of prongs 62 and 63, thus instantly decoupling the hand crank 45 from the shaft 10. Shaft may again be connected with the window operating mechanism and motor drive through any of the coupling devices as shown in the preceding views.

As is understood, the frictional force between disk 70 and support 69 should be sufficient to enable the prongs 62 and 63 to be deflected upon initially rotatlng the shaft 67 without causing relative slippage between members 69 and 70. Furthermore, in order to keep the friction between members 69 and 70 as low as possible and to reduce the effort to be exerted during the manual operation of the window, member 64 or the prongs 62 and 63 are made of highly resilient spring metal and/or additional means may be provided to improve the resiliency of said prongs in order to insure ready and instant deflection and engagement with the serrations 61 upon initial rotation of the shaft 67 and cam 68.

According to a further embodiment of the invention, the uni-bi-directional spring clutch of the type shown in Figure l is adapted for additional power driven operation by rotating the housing 18 by an electric motor through a worm gear drive, an additional clutch spring being provided to afford efiicient frictional driving action between the housing and clutch assembly during the automatic or motor driven window operation. A construction of this type is shown in Figures 7 and 8.

In the latter, items 10, 11, 14 and 18 represent a spring clutch similar to that shown in Figures 1 and 2. According to this embodiment, the housing 18 instead of being stationary as in the preceding arrangements is arranged for rotation together with the entire clutch assembly by the provision of a suitable support or bearing indicated at 75 and secured to a casing 76 which serves to house the entire coupling mechanism. This is obtained by directly connecting the worm wheel 21 driven by worm 22 to the housing 18 in the manner shown in the drawing. As a result, the entire clutch assembly and with it the window driving gear 12 may be rotated by the electric motor for effecting an automatic window regulation, the normal frictional engagement of the clutch spring 16 with the inner surface of the housing 18 acting to provide the necessary coupling connection.

For practical purposes the friction between spring 16 and housing 18 should not exceed a certain limit in order to prevent an excessive frictional load to be overcome when operating the hand crank during the manual window operation. This in turn may result in a slipping between the housing 18 and clutch spring 16 during the automatic operation and in order to avoid this drawback, there is provided a further clutch spring 77 similar to spring 16 and encircling either the members 10 and 11 and/or 14 and 15. In the example shown, spring 77 is arranged adjacent to the spring 16 and encircling the shaft or coupling member 10, the hooked ends 78 of this spring engaging suitable slots 80 in the housing 18, as shown more clearly in Figure 8, in such a manner that spring 77 will be wound up or tightened upon shaft 10 upon initially rotating the housing in either direction by the worm wheel 21, whereby to establish eflicient frictional driving connection with shaft 10 byway of the entire clutch assembly and in turn with the gear 12. For this purpose, the hooked ends 78 of spring 77 and slots 80 are so arranged relative to each other that the slots will engage the inner faces of hooks 78, to thereby contract the spring as desired. Spring 77 is arranged to normally engage shaft 10 sufficiently to enable contraction of the spring during initial rotation of housing 18 but with a friction small enough to prevent any excessive effort to be overcome during manual rotation of shaft 10 by the hand crank.

In order to relieve the motor from excess load when the window reaches the limit position or is restrained in any other manner, a suitable slip coupling 81 is shown connected between the motor 43 and worm gear 22. During the manual operation of the window by means of the hand crank which latter may be either permanently attached, as shown in Figures 5 and 6, or provided for emergency uses only, the worm wheel 21 will act as a lock or abutment to hold the housing 18 stationary and enable the normal operation of the spring clutch in the manner described hereinbefore. In place of the slip coupling 81, any other known overload release means may be provided for the motor 43, such as a delayed excess current circuit breaker or the like as will be readily understood.

If the hand crank in Figure 1 is intended for emergency use only, the spring clutch 14-18 may be omitted in order to simplify and reduce the cost of the entire structure. In this case, during the normal or motor driven window operation, the worm gear 21, 22 will act as a lock preventing reaction by the window upon the motor, while during the manual window operation the friction between the worm wheel 21 and disk 20 will act as a brake preventing the window from reacting upon the crank handle. On the other hand, if the friction driving force is released or reduced during the manual window operation, as in the case of Figure 4, the use of a unibi-directional spring clutch of the type shown or an equivalent arrangement between the window driving gear 12 and the shaft 10 is advisable.

It will also be understood that the crank handle 45 in Figure 5 may be connected to the shaft 67 through a step-down gear train similar to the gearing 25, 26 of Figure 1 in order to reduce the manual elfort in overcoming the friction between the worm wheel and friction driving disk when using an arrangement of the type according to Figure 1.

Furthermore, the slip clutch 81 in Figures 7 and 8 may be omitted and the clutch springs 16 and 77 so designed or adjusted in the normal position to produce a predetermined frictional engagement with the housing 18 or shaft 10, respectively, whereby the clutch will act as an overload release means by allowing of relative slippage between the spring 16 and housing 18 and between spring 77 and shaft 10, respectively, at a predetermined excess load imposed upon the motor, when the window reaches one of its limit positions or is otherwise restrained in an intermediate position during its operation.

If a uni-bi-directional clutch is provided between the window operating gear 12 and the driving shaft, the worm gear drive, 21, 22 may be replaced by any simple drive such as a pair of bevel gears since in this case the spring clutch will serve to prevent reaction of the window upon both the motor and manual driving members.

While there have been shown and described a few desirable embodiments of the invention, it will be evident from the foregoing that this disclosure is for the purpose of illustration and that variations in shape, size and arrangement of parts, as well as the substitution of equivalent elements for those herein shown and described may be made, in accordance with the broader scope and spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The specification and drawings are accordingly to be W regarded in an illustrative rather than-in a limiting sense.

What is claimed is:

1. In a Window regulator, operating mechanism for raising and lowering a window, means for controlling said mechanism comprising an electric motor with means for starting the same in either direction, a driving shaft for said mechanism, a spring clutch between said shaft and mechanism comprising apair of interengaging sectorshape clutchmembers coextensive with said shaft and said mechanism, respectively, a cylindrical housing enclosing said members, a coil spring frictionally engaging the inside of said housing and having hooked ends inserted between the adjoining end faces of said members, whereby to allow rotary motion to be transmitted from said shaft to said mechanism in either sense of rotation by contraction and release of said springfrom said-housingand to prevent transmission of motion in the reverse direction by expansion and tightening of said spring against said housing, meansfor rotating said housing by said-motor, and a further coil spring surrounding said shaft and having hooked ends engaging depressions in said housing, said further coil spring having a first position substantially released from said shaft when said housingis stationary, rotation of said housing by said motor causing contractual movement of said further coil spring to a second position tightened upon said shaft thereby to establish a frictional driving connection between said housing and said shaft, and control means for manually rotating said shaft, said further coil spring in its first position permitting manual rotation of said shaft.

2. In a window regulator operating mechanism for raising and lowering a window, a driving shaft for" said mechanism; amanually rotatable shaft, a drive: releasebrake-between said manually-rotatable shaft and said a cylindrical'housing surrounding'said manually rotatable shaft; a coilspring disposed between said cylindrical housing and said manually rotatable shaft, hooked ends on said coil spring engaging depressions in said cylindrical housing, the coil spring being normally in a first position substantially released from said manuallylrotatableshaft to permit manual rotation thereof, a reversible electric motor, and a driving connection between said motor and said cylindricalhousing, rotation of said housing in eitherdirection by said'motor causing'contractual movement of saidcoil spring into a second positiorrtoform a frictional driving connection between saidhousing and said manually=rotatable shaft.

3. The combination according to claim 2, said driving shaftand saidmanually rotatable shaft-being coaxial, said cylindrical housing also surrounding said driving shaft andforming part of said drive release brake.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,382,791 Hill Aug. 14, 1945 2,390,117 Michelman Dec. 4, 1945 2,421,814 Starkey June 10, 1947 2,458,441 Starkey Jan. 4, 1949 2,621,543 Rossmann Dec. 16,1952 2,621,926 Rossmann et al. Dec. 16, 1952 up." M 

